Social Media and Divorce
The Daily Mail UK online published an article on the 29th of April 2015, setting out some startling statistics pertaining to the incidences of social media being cited as the catalyst which led to a divorce (the statistics were compiled by the law firm Slater and Gordon). According to the study undertaken by Slater and Gordon, one in seven spouses felt strongly enough about their spouse’s postings on Facebook that they considered divorce, a similar number utilised social media platforms to uncover infidelity and approximately one in five say spouses have regular arguments due to the manner...
Read MoreSingle Moms and Maintenance
This issue is very closely related to the parental responsibilities and rights of unmarried fathers so a good starting point is to analyse what the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 says about the responsibilities of unmarried fathers towards their children. Firstly, section 19 of the Act automatically confers full parental responsibilities and rights on the biological mother of a child. What this means is that the mother of the child has responsibility and right to care for the child, maintain contact with the child, act as the guardian of the child and contribute towards the maintenance of the...
Read MoreOh baby! What rights do unmarried dads have with their children
South African law automatically gives full parental responsibilities and rights to a child’s biological mother. But what rights do fathers have? The biological father of a child also has full responsibilities and rights if his is married to the child’s mother or if he was married to the child’s mother at the time of conception, birth or any time in between. Parental responsibilities and rights are defined by law as the responsibility and right to care for the child, maintain contact with the child, act as the guardian of the child and contribute towards their maintenance. But if a father...
Read MoreWhen can a court refuse to grant a divorce?
In most cases, once a couple has proved on acceptable grounds that their marriage has irretrievably broken down the court does not have discretion to then refuse to grant them an order of divorce. One exception to this rule, however, is outlined in section 5A of the Divorce Act. This section says that if the court believes that, despite the granting of an order of divorce, either one or both of the spouses will not be free to remarry because of religious conventions unless the marriage is also dissolved in accordance with their religion’s requirements or a barrier to re-marriage of either...
Read MoreRehabilitative Maintenance During a Divorce
The term “rehabilitative maintenance” was coined to deal with situations where a maintenance order is set for a limited period of time before a divorce is finalised. Section 7(2) of the Divorce Act is the piece of legislaton that deals with the payment of maintenance in these situations, i.e before a settlement agreement has been reached. Section 7(2) sets out in broad terms how maintenance will be paid. To decide this, the court takes into account the following criteria about the divorcing couple: Their existing or prospective financial means Their respective earning capacities Their...
Read MoreAntenuptial Contracts
If you’re getting married and your antenuptial contract (ANC) isn’t notarised or registered with the deeds office, what happens – particularly if you get divorced? When you enter into an ANC, the Deeds Registries Act of 1937 sets out several formalities. The first is that your ANC is notarised, and the second is that it’s registered in a deeds registry within three months. If you don’t follow these steps, South African legislation says that the ANC will not be valid against any person who was not a party to the agreement. But what does this mean? Let’s say, for example, that John and Sarah...
Read MoreThe content in this blog is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Copyright ©GillianLowndes2013